2 Comments:

Season one was "what the hell is happening" and conflict within the castaways. Character development and conflict, plus mystery. Snazzy.

Season two was "hey, this place is really weird" and conflict between the castaways and the tailies. More characters, mystery cranked up. Again, snazzy.

Season three is "oooh, the Others are...um...boring" and the conflict between the castaways and the others. Not so much with the snazzy.

The overall mystery of the island has been muted by the focus on The Others. It seems like the Others know what's going on (although I'm sure they -yawn- don't), and they're a dull lot. The Others provide only cryptic speech, some lame-ass tension within the group, and zero logic. They don't even seem mysterious or duplicitous, just badly written. Juliet and Ben are at odds? Explain to me why I should give the tiniest of rodent pellets.

It's gone from an Island of Mysterious Happenings and Strange Possibilities to an island that has a group of well-equipped and organized dickheads taking advantage of a group of scattered and ill-equipped dickheads. Instead of Grand Bizarro Mystery, it's now the powerful abusing the powerless whilst arguing among themselves about things we neither know nor care about. Whoop-de-freakin'-do.

To add to the boring, the flashbacks that used to be revealing and interesting have been nothing but boring-ass retreads of stuff we already know. "Wait...Locke was a well-meaning boob who got taken advantage of a lot? You don't say! Jack has issues with his father and ex-wife? No! Sawyer's a dick? Heavens to Betsy!"

A bonus: the introduction of two castaways who have "been there all the time," and now suddenly become important: "Nikki" and "Paulo." These two have a very "Cousin Oliver" feel to them and have yet to be anything other to the show than a pair of bad actors dickering with "playful banter." Ugh. They have added less than nothing.

With Eko dead, the only tailie left is Bernard. That whole crew we followed during the first few episodes of Season Two? The ones they tried so hard to get us to care about and know? All cacked. Nice planning, dillholes.

It's still watchable, but I don't care as much as I used to. A few more dumbass, motionless episodes and I'll probably stop caring. Especially if they break out that CGI "polar bear" again. Ye gods.

Didn't Alias lose its way around season three? The overarching "mysteries" getting swallowed up in dumb plots and dragging the show down? That's the impression I've gotten from Ye Olde Internette.

You make very good points, and I mentioned to Krys that the Others are trying so hard to convince the originals that they're not bad people while doing horrible things to them. The few times this season when we have learned more, it's been a good thing, but the glacial pace of the show is hurting it when so many mysteries have been resolved.

I actually liked Eko dying, because at least something happened. I'm disappointed in the relative boringness of the Others - you're right about that. Jesus, make them evil, come on!!!!

And I was hoping the flashbacks would continue explaining the mystery of certain things, not, as you pointed out, reinforcing things we already know. Hurley's numbers, how Locke lost the use of his legs, some connections between them - that's when the flashbacks work well. Just showing us that Locke is gullible (again) or that Jack is a dick doesn't do it. Sigh.

I do find it interesting that all the actors who get arrested in real life end up dead, even though the writers say it has nothing to do with it. Yeah, right.

And poor Trixie (of Deadwood fame). She gets a new job and gets shot and dies. So sad!